$20m wedding venue opens on Gold Coast as weddings industry bounces back from pandemic

Hordes of heartbroken couples forced to cancel their nuptials during the pandemic are flocking to a new $20 million venue that could turn the Gold Coast into Australia’s wedding capital.

What’s being billed as Australia’s most luxurious wedding venue has opened on the Gold Coast, right on cue as hordes of heartbroken couples forced to cancel their nuptials during the pandemic finally start tying the knot en masse.

The $20 million The Valley Estate in Currumbin Valley only opened its doors last month but already has almost 170 weddings booked, with celebrities among the clientele.

Its owners are vowing to take on Byron Bay and turn the Gold Coast into Australia’s wedding capital as the multi-billion dollar wedding industry rebounds from Covid-19.

The Valley Estate owner Cherie Uzan and chef Aaron Teece in the antique dinghy at the estate. Picture: NIGEL HALLETT

Set in 3.6ha of manicured grounds on a former dairy farm, the stately European/industrial-inspired venue boasts its own chapel with antique oak pews from an old New York church and bell from a 1920s shipwreck.

The striking antique brick and sandstone reception centre, The Manor, features soaring arch windows and giant chandeliers, a grand timber staircase for the bride and groom to descend from a private loft and a wine cabinet stocked with Penfolds Grange and other premium drops.

There’s a bridegroom’s retreat complete with billiard table, bar and vintage furnishings, a second elegant reception centre called The Glasshouse, and lavish Hamptons-style accommodation for the newlyweds.

The estate’s internationally-acclaimed chef, Aaron Teece, has cooked for the Queen, Margaret Thatcher and A-listers including Tom Hanks during his visit to the Gold Coast last year to film Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis movie.

The chapel at The Valley Estate in Currumbin Valley.

Among the first weddings was a Sydney couple who had to cancel their nuptials five times during the pandemic because of border closures and lockdowns.

The Valley Estate owner, prominent southern Gold Coast restaurateur Cherie Uzan, said major floods that hit the area in January as her five-year dream project neared completion were more of a worry than Covid-19.

“I was always confident that the wedding industry would bounce back from Covid and this place would be a success because so much planning and passion has gone into it,” she said.

A wedding at the newly-opened $20m The Valley Estate on the Gold Coast.

Ms Uzan said she developed the estate after seeing a gap in the market for a ‘one-stop’, high-end wedding venue, which will also host balls, winemaker dinners, fashion shoots and luxury car launches.

She said it would help the Coast rival Byron as a wedding hotspot and also boost tourism.

“Everyone who comes is blown away,” she said.

“It’s a unique and magical place for sure – a wedding photographer’s dream.”